Visual Effects Society
70% - VES and Oscar winners match.
Last year was the first time in 4 years that VES and Oscar did not match (Hugo).
VES and Oscar have never gone longer than 1 year without matching winners.
Life of Pi won the VES award this year.
- It won 4 of the 5 VES categories for which it was nominated (8 total VES categories).
- The Hobbit and The Avengers were the only other Oscar nominated films to win any VES awards.
90% - Oscar winner nominated for VES.
Only once has the Oscar winner not been nominated for VES: Hugo (2011). Therefore, we can’t completely rule out Snow White and the Huntsman, but it is highly unlikely that it will win.
Previous Oscar Nominations
The Hobbit has, by far, the most previous Oscar nominations among this group of nominees. Joe Letteri makes up most of those nominations. He has 6 nominations with 4 wins. All of the other films have a total of 1 win each.
Snow White and the Huntsman is an interesting film to nominate, but certainly one that is deserving of it. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of visual effects in the film is the melting of the mirror on the wall. However, there are just not nearly enough effects here to get a win, not to mention the fact that it wasn’t even nominated for VES.
The effects in Prometheus were elegant, unflashy and breathtaking and the Avengers had quite a lot going on with that grand finale.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit is more CGI than its Lord of the Ring predecessors. One might consider the fact that it was filmed at a higher frame rate and this might impress some of these Oscar voters, even though this new technique was panned by many critics. It’s epic, but then again, it’s only the first of 3 films. The flood of awards may be 2 years coming.
Life of Pi
Life of Pi will win because these effects make up both the backdrop and the crutch that the rest of the movie can exist before and upon. What’s more, these effects in no way look too much like effects. Rather, they look real enough to be admired for their naturality.
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